


Long Road Ahead

by Speckkit



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura & Lance (Voltron) Friendship, Angst, Bisexual Disaster Lance (Voltron), Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Cuban Lance (Voltron), Denial of Feelings, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gay Keith (Voltron), Happy Ending, Hunk & Lance (Voltron) Friendship, Hunk (Voltron) is a Good Friend, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Keith & Pidge | Katie Holt Friendship, Keith (Voltron) Is Trying, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Keith (Voltron) is a Dork, Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt Friendship, Lance (Voltron) in Denial, Lance (Voltron) is a Dork, Lance is a Tease (Voltron), Light Angst, M/M, Oblivious Keith (Voltron), Oblivious Lance (Voltron), Pining, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Keith/Lance (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Sad with a Happy Ending, Sassy Pidge | Katie Holt, Socially Awkward Keith (Voltron), Space Dad Shiro (Voltron), Space Mom Allura (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:48:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24854863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Speckkit/pseuds/Speckkit
Summary: After one backfired infiltration of a Galra cruiser, Keith and Lance find themselves in a sticky situation. They haven't properly eaten for nine days, have been drinking muddy water (which is probably parasite infested), and can't seem to gather enough hope to keep their morale high.And, of course, what happens to Keith next is just his luck.Whether that's referring to the physical toll his body is taking, or the emotional toll of his crush that refuses to leave, Keith won't say.All he knows is that he and Lance better get rescued fast, or he might just lose it.Keith doesn't even want to think about how frustrating this all must be for Lance, seeing as he has to be Keith's temporary caretaker.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 35
Kudos: 75





	1. Stuck

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I've rewritten the author's notes three times at this point, and honestly, I'm getting really frustrated. Why am I so inept at using AO3? Will I ever be capable of using simple technology? Who knows? Either way, here's the shortened version of what I've already stated three times at this point:
> 
> 1\. You guys can call me Yasmin (my real name) or Specckit (my username). Either one is fine with me!
> 
> 2\. This is my first ever fanfiction. I've been dying to write Klance fics for god knows how long by now, so I'm very excited to post this. 
> 
> 3\. This fic is inspired by an amalgamation of a few thirty day prompt lists that I found online. I'm not strictly following a list; though, I'm just using them to aid in creating this fic. 
> 
> 4\. I don't want this fic to be taken too seriously. I just want it as my icebreaker fic. I want to write it to help me understand formatting, get better at using AO3, and learn how to write more quickly and efficiently. 
> 
> 5\. I can't promise daily updates. As I previously stated, I want to use this time to get better at writing quickly, and making sure that what I'm writing is something that I'm proud to post. My goal is to update as frequently as possible, at the highest quality as possible. I can only hope that by the end of this little journey, that I'll be posting chapters very often. 
> 
> Well, with all that said, I sincerely hope that you enjoy the first chapter to Long Road Ahead.

The hope that Lance was clinging to slowly fell as he watched Keith carve yet another tally on their tree. 

Nine days. 

It had been nine days since their last battle. Nine days since they had proper sustenance. Nine days since they were captured. Nine days since they escaped. Nine days since they crash landed on this stupid planet.

Lance could see that Keith was getting skinnier by the day. Lance knew that he was, too. It didn't help that Keith kept vomiting from what Lance assumed was a concussion.

"We need to go further out, today," Keith started. "There obviously isn't any food nearby. We can't keep eating leaves for every meal."

"Yeah. You're right. I'm just scared that we'll lose the pod if we go too far," Lance said. They had been living in a Galra escape pod for the past nine days. It wasn't an ideal living situation, but they were cold and desperate. It was certainly better than exhausting their energy to make a haphazard shelter out of branches and leaves. 

"True," Keith groaned. "This situation is so fucked." 

Lance put his hand on Keith's shoulder. "C'mon, man. I know this is hard, but… we can think of something," Lance paused for a moment to think. "Hey, what if we just marked our way? You could just carve into the trees with your knife, so we can find our way back. There _has_ to be food out here somewhere."

 _There has to be food. Not just more fucking leaves,_ Lance thought. 

"Sorry, sorry… I'll be less hostile," Keith sighed and looked at the ground. "That's a good idea, though. Let's head out now before it gets dark again."

The days on the planet were very short. Like five hours short, kind of short. It made it hard to do anything. They had to get their fire going when this planet's version of the sun came out. They used broken glass from the crash of the escape pod as a magnifying glass to make their fire. Luckily, it hadn't rained since they got there, so all the firewood was dry. That also meant that their water source was so scarce that it was decently muddy. It wasn't the most pleasant thing to drink, but if it kept them living for another day, then they would do what they had to. 

Keith and Lance kept walking, marking tree after tree. It all looked the same. The same stupid jungle no matter where they turned. 

"Alright, how about we stay walking an hour at the most, and if we don't find anything by then, we turn back," Lance said. 

"Sounds good to me," Keith mumbled. "We can't be out here at night."

"Exactly. Hopefully, by then, we'll have found somethi-"

" _Shut up!_ " Keith hissed and whipped his hand back to stop Lance from progressing. 

" _Dude, wha-_ "

" _Shh,_ " Keith crouched down slowly and crept toward a large bush. 

A lot happened in the next second. 

Keith sliced his blade through the air and into the bush. He pulled out some deranged and feral version of a bunny on the end of his knife. The creature was hissing and gnawing at Keith. Keith held out the knife as far away from himself as possible, but the damn thing ended up sliding off the blade, and latching its teeth onto Keith's forearm. 

Keith screamed. 

Lance panicked. 

" _Shoot it!_ " Keith yelled, as he desperately tried to yank the thing off his arm. 

"Then stop moving! I don't wanna shoot your arm!" Lance yelled back. 

Before Lance could accidentally shoot Keith's arm, Keith flung his arm so hard that the bunny was sent flying into a tree. It started limping away, but Lance shot it with his gun and watched it fall over before it could escape. 

He quickly turned toward Keith and knelt down. " _Oh, God._ Keith, are you okay?" Lance asked, frantically grabbing Keith's arm and examining the bite. It was bleeding a little bit, but nothing that would be fatal. Hopefully the bunny didn't have a fatal, venomous bite, either. 

Keith pulled his arm to his chest. "I'm fine. Just go get the stupid bunny before some other animal takes it," he said. 

"Okay, but tell me if you start feeling bad," Lance said. 

He turned around and grabbed the bunny by its hind legs. Just to be sure, he checked the pulse. Thankfully, its heart wasn't beating, so at least Lance didn't have to worry about anymore deranged-bunny-bites. 

"Alright, it's dead. Let's go back now. We should try and cook it before the sun goes down," Lance said. 

He reached his hand out for Keith, which Keith took very sloppily. 

"Thanks," he mumbled, as Lance pulled him up. 

Lance hummed in response, and the two started walking along the marked tree trail of theirs. 

"We can try the opposite direction tomorrow," Lance started. "This bunny will be enough to last us for a couple days. Hopefully we can find a more, uh- _peaceful_ food source," Lance looked toward Keith for affirmation, but found that Keith was holding back a grimace. "Keith? Buddy? You okay? You look like you're in pain," Lance frowned. 

"I'm fine. That sounds like a good idea. Let's just get back to the pod," Keith replied, without glancing once at Lance. 

"Can I see your arm?" Lance asked. Keith had his right arm across his chest, keeping the bite hidden. 

"No. It's fine," Keith snapped back. 

Lance huffed a sigh and tried to refrain from putting Keith in a chokehold- and not the good kind. 

"Why not?" Lance quipped. 

"Because," Keith said. 

"Because?" Lance asked. 

" _Because,_ " Keith growled. 

"C'mon, Keith," Lance sighed. "Obviously it's hurting. Show me it, so I can try to help you."

"Fine," Keith huffed, and averted his eyes as he stuck out his arm for Lance. 

" _Holy shit,_ Keith! It's swollen to all hell!" The bite had to be two inches in diameter, and a centimeter high, at least. It was red, and Lance could almost see it throbbing with his own eyes. The only saving grace was that the bleeding was practically nonexistent at that point. 

" _I said it's fine,_ " Keith retorted. 

"Dude, _clearly it's not,_ " Lance said. "We have to get back and figure it out soon."

" _Whatever,_ " Keith mumbled. 

They started back on the trail toward the escape pod in silence. There wasn't a lot to talk about, being stranded on an unknown planet. 

About fifteen minutes later, Lance started noticing that Keith's steps were becoming less calculated. He was getting slower with each pace. 

" _Woah, woah,_ Keith. Why don't we slow down for a bit. You're really not looking good," Lance said. 

"I already said that I'm _fine,_ " Keith retorted. Just to try and prove his point, he picked up his pace significantly.

The downfall to that, though, was that Keith fell down.

" _Dammit, Keith,_ " Lance said as he jogged up to Keith and kneeled beside him. 

He was coughing into his arm, and Lance saw Keith's eyes roll back into his head as he slumped over and laid unconscious.

"Fuck," Lance hissed, and flipped Keith over. His face looked sickly pale, even lighter than his usual complexion. Thankfully, Lance felt a pulse when he put his fingers under Keith's ear. 

_At least he only fainted,_ Lance thought. He didn't want to think about the other alternatives that the bite could have caused. 

Lance heaved Keith up into his arms bridal style, and put the deranged bunny on Keith's chest for the sake of his convenience.

After a little while of following the trail, Lance finally made it back to the escape pod, luckily not having run into any more deranged bunnies. 

He set Keith down next to the dying fire, careful not to put him too close, so that he didn't wake up with a charred mullet. 

Lance looked around in the escape pod for his helmet that acted as their bowl for water. He found it, and, thankfully, there was a little to spare from the previous day. He tried pouring some of the water on Keith to wake him up. Of course, it didn't work, so Lance figured that he might as well shake Keith to consciousness. Lance hovered close to Keith and grabbed his shoulders, violently jerking his body about, which eventually resulted in Keith slowly blinking his eyes and groggily looking around. That probably didn't help the multiple concussions that Keith must have accumulated by that point. 

"Keith, get up. We've gotta make this fire and cook this bunny before the sun sets," Lance said, with little remorse.

Keith groaned and turned his head to the side. 

"What the _fuck,_ " Keith growled. He attempted to push himself up off the ground, but fell flat on his face. " _Ow…_ "

"Oh- _uhh,_ that's not good," Lance said.

" _No shit,_ " Keith mumbled, still face planted in the dirt.

" _Okay,_ " Lance started. "Let's get you up."

Keith couldn't even find the strength to protest as Lance grabbed under his armpits and dragged his limp body to the base of their tally tree. 

"Alright, I'll go get our fire going so we can eat the bunny. You just sit there and try to stay awake. Got it?" Lance said, to a very dazed looking Keith. 

"Kay," Keith muttered after a moment of silence.

 _Not the most intelligible of responses,_ Lance thought.

***

"Keith, get up. We've gotta make this fire and cook this bunny before the sun sets," Keith heard Lance say; though, his hearing was definitely muffled. 

He turned over, with a groan, and opened his eyes to be greeted with Lance, really close to his face, which Keith _definitely_ wasn't complaining about. But then, Lance and the trees in the background doubled, and started swaying in his vision. He felt like vomiting his guts out. He couldn't move his arm. The un-bitten one and all his other limbs were slowed down in reaction time, and felt extremely weak. 

_Well, this fucking sucks,_ he thought. 

"What the _fuck,_ " Keith said, in agony. 

Still, he wanted to be productive and help Lance with their chores, so he pushed himself up off the ground. That didn't really work out; though, because his arms gave out on him and caused him to face plant right back into the dirty ground. 

_Go figure,_ he thought. 

" _Ow..._ "

"Oh- _uhh,_ that's not good," Lance said.

" _No shit,_ " Keith replied. He didn't have the energy to move himself from the slightly embarrassing and humiliating position he was in. 

" _Okay,_ let's get you up," Lance said. 

Suddenly, Keith found himself being manhandled and dragged by Lance, which really wasn't helping his nausea, but who's to say that the manhandling part of it _really_ bothered Keith? 

The dragging finally stopped, after what felt like hours to Keith. 

"Alright, I'll go get our fire going so we can eat the bunny. You just sit there and try to stay awake. Got it?" Lance said.

"Kay," Keith mumbled, the only thing he found the energy to reply with. 

Lance went off, which left a very bored, helpless, and delirious Keith alone at the tree. 

_Maybe I can suck the venom out of my arm? Yes, that sounds like a great idea,_ Keith thought. 

Keith tried to lift up his bitten arm, only to remember that it was immobile. Then, he tried to lift his immobile arm with his mobile arm. His arm made it all the way to his bitten one, but for some reason his hand was refusing to cooperate, which- okay, _rude,_ and he couldn't muster the strength to get a grip around his bitten arm, so he quickly gave up on that plan. 

_What if… instead of bringing my arm to my face, I bring my face to my arm? Yes, that will definitely work,_ Keith thought. 

He started to bend over slowly toward his bitten arm that was haphazardly slung across his chest. 

_Yes… this is working!_

He bent closer and closer to the bite. 

He expected to grab the swollen mark with his teeth. He expected to be able to then suck all the venom out, and be completely cured of this nauseous hell. 

He didn't expect ( _though, he really should have_ ) to lose all his balance and go face first into the dirt, yet again. This time; though, he fell into an awkward snail position that made his neck crane and his back bend in all the wrong places. 

_Well. That wasn't very nice,_ he thought. 

***

Lance was coming back with some firewood from the escape pod. They kept it in there, in case it were to ever rain one day. Then they would at least have dry firewood, if nothing else. 

Lance climbed out of the pod with a large bundle of twigs and logs in his arms, and turned around. 

" _Oh, lord…_ " he muttered. 

Why would he expect any less from Keith. The delirious boy was huddled in a snail position, with his face smushed in the dirt, once again.

" _Help,_ " Keith pathetically mumbled into the ground. 

Lance dropped the wood and jogged toward Keith to aid with his slightly embarrassing and slightly comical predicament. 

"Keith, how'd this happen?" Lance asked, as he pulled Keith back into a normal sitting position.

Lance grabbed Keith's chin and jerked it around to see all angles, examining for injuries. 

"I tried to suck the venom out," Keith explained; though, it was a little muffled due to Lance smushing his face. 

"Okay, from now on, why don't you just wait for me to try stuff like that? It would really help if you didn't keep falling and hitting your head on everything," Lance said, as he let go of Keith's cheeks. 

"Okay," Keith replied. 

"You didn't get a broken nose. I have no idea how, though," Lance said. 

"Sorry," Keith grumbled in response to Lance. 

"What? Why are you sorry?" Lance asked. 

"'Cause you keep taking care of my clumsy ass," Keith said. 

"Dude, it doesn't bother me. Well, I mean, it _does_ bother me that you were bitten, and clearly need actual medical help, but… I mean that I don't mind taking care of you until we get off this cursed planet," Lance replied. 

"Thanks, then. I'll try to stay upright- for your sake," Keith huffed a small laugh. 

"Right," Lance replied with a roll of his eyes, and, even in the frightful situation they were in, the hint of a smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cannot express with any words how grateful I am for you reading this fanfiction. Even if there's only going to be one of you who sees this, that will be all the motivation and ego boosting I need to continue writing. If you noticed any typos or errors I would really appreciate if you told me about them. I revise all of my works, yet I sometimes still end up missing mistakes. 
> 
> My Instagram is @yasmin.g.art if you would like to follow!


	2. Antidote

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Weirdly erotic feasts and unexpected visitors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys!! I'm so excited to bring you the second chapter! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!
> 
> Also, TRIGGER WARNING: there is a little talk about vomit in this chapter, but it's not graphic at all.

It was halfway through the short day on the mystery planet, which meant that Keith and Lance only had two and a half hours left of sunlight. After tending to the fire for a bit, Lance had gotten the flame up to a respectable size. He got up to get sticks to cook the deranged bunny like a spit roast, making sure to keep Keith in his peripheral at all times. 

Lance wasn't really stoked to be skewering a stick all the way through a dead, deranged, alien bunny, but he did what he had to. 

He was sure that Hunk would be disappointed in his lack of culinary creativity out there in the jungle. Lance knew that Hunk could've probably made a five-star meal out of the dirt stuck on Lance's shoes if he had to. 

_At least we're going to eat something,_ he thought. 

After what felt like years, but was really only forty five minutes, Lance deemed the bunny to be safe enough to eat. 

His stomach growled angrily with anticipation as he took it off of the flame and cut it open. 

"Keith. It's cooked. We're gonna eat now," Lance said. 

"I can't really use my arms," Keith murmured. 

"What? You can't use them? As in, they won't even move?" Lance asked. 

"Well, my bitten arm is completely useless and my other is too weak to practically do anything. I've gotten pretty good at dragging it across the dirt, though," Keith snipped, dryly. 

"It's worse than I thought, then," Lance said as Keith huffed a sigh. "Let's just eat first, and then worry about it."

"That bunny better be the best damn tasting bunny in the whole universe," Keith said. 

"No kidding," Lance huffed. 

He walked over to Keith and sat down next to him, with the cooked bunny in hand. He ripped a leg off and was about to give it to Keith, when he realized that Keith wasn't exactly in the condition to feed himself. 

" _Uhh,_ " Lance said. "How, uh, do you want me to do this, exactly?"

Keith looked equal amounts surprised and embarrassed. " _Oh,_ right… why don't I just try to feed myself?" he said. 

"Yeah. Right, right," Lance agreed. "I'm sure that your arm is better by now," Lance quickly spat out. 

"Okay, then," Keith said, which cued for Lance to hold out the drumstick. 

_Please grab it,_ Lance thought. _I really don't want to hand feed you._

_Right. Definitely._

But Keith's arm wasn't coming up, as Lance watched it pathetically drag across the ground in attempt to. There was a brief moment of hope where Keith got it a respectable two and a half inches above the ground, before it flopped right back into the dirt. 

" _What the fuck,_ " Keith glared at his arm, like it was the most pathetic and shameful thing to ever exist. "I guess I just won't eat."

"Woah, dude, it's fine. I'll just. Feed you," Lance said. 

_Am I actually going to feed him?_

"I guess," Keith looked away. "But only if you want to," he muttered quietly. 

_Do I ever,_ Lance thought. 

_Okay, nope. Stop thinking like that, you creep._

"Yeah, I can do it," Lance said. 

"Okay."

"Yup."

"Mhm."

There was complete and utter silence as Lance and Keith looked around themselves, making sure to never make eye contact. It stayed that way for about twenty seconds, before Lance couldn't take it anymore. 

"Well, we'd better get to it then," Lance spat out. 

"I guess so," Keith replied. 

Without stalling any longer, Lance brought up the bunny leg to Keith's mouth, adamant on avoiding Keith's gaze. That resulted in his eyes being hyperfixated on Keith's mouth, which really wasn't doing his mental state any favors. 

He watched Keith open his mouth in slow motion.

_Oh my god, is this weird?_

Keith's teeth bit down into the bunny leg and pulled the meat off. 

_He has to think this is weird, right?_

Lance watched Keith chew methodically for what felt like hours; though, it would've probably been about ten seconds to a normal person. 

_Why am I still watching this?_

Finally, Keith swallowed the first bite as his Adam's apple bobbed up and down. 

_Help me, God._

Lance finally broke his gaze from Keith's mouth, to find that Keith had been staring right at him. And right when Lance thought that he had been saved, Keith lazily licked his lips while maintaining eye contact. 

_Don't freak out- don't panic- you're fine- everything is totally normal._

Then they just sat and stared at each other. 

_Okay, this is totally awkward. Definitely awkward. Oh my god, what is going on?_

Lance cleared his throat and looked away. No way in hell was about to suffer through more of whatever the fuck that was. 

" _I think I'll eat my own, too,_ " Lance spat, quickly ripping off another leg for himself. 

"Oh, uh- _right,_ " Keith agreed, averting his eyes and stiffening up, like he was suddenly set free from a strange trance. 

Lance turned his head away from Keith and started scarfing down his own food, as Keith ate from the leg that Lance was still holding out. 

They didn't stop eating. The two saved none of the bunny for leftovers, completely disregarding their original plans to have some for the upcoming days. 

At first, it felt like a blessing. Finally, they had good sustenance. But after nine days of eating just leaves and drinking muddy water, devouring half of a bunny was not very kind to their digestive systems. 

The large food intake shocked their bodies. Keith ended up vomiting right next to his spot at the tally tree, since he couldn't get up and go in the bushes like Lance had to do. 

So, lesson learned for the blue and red paladins: _take things in moderation._

***

The sun was setting as Keith and Lance sat beside a different tree than their tally one, because, frankly, the boys really didn't want to sit next to a puddle of Keith's vomit. 

"Ugh, I'm never gonna look at a bunny the same again," Lance groaned.

"No kidding," Keith agreed. He was probably scarred for life. 

"We should head in the pod now," Lance said, as Keith nodded in agreement. 

Lance twisted his body to pick Keith up. Lance put his arms under Keith's legs and back, and started to lift him up, bridal style. 

"Oh, uh- what are you doing?" Keith asked. 

"Picking you up, so we can go in the pod?" Lance questioned. 

"Oh- I just thought you were gonna drag me again…" Keith said. 

"Well, I mean, I already kinda picked you up like this when you fainted," Lance said. 

"Oh, well, I didn't really know that," Keith said. 

"Right," Lance started. "Well, it'll be better if I properly pick you up."

And with that, he heaved Keith up into his arms and made his way toward the pod. 

_Okay, his hands feel way too nice,_ Keith thought. _That venom really must be messing with my head._

Keith nestled his face a little in the crook of Lance's arm ( _totally not because he was gay, desperate, and impulsive_ ), which didn't last very long, because, soon enough, Keith was gently set down in the pilot's chair of the escape pod. 

Although that made Keith feel a little colder in the spots where Lance's hands were cradling him, he'd never actually admit it. 

***

Lance was carrying Keith into the escape pod, which brought him back to the time when Keith had cradled him. Even though Lance never admitted it, he remembered and relished every second of that moment he had shared with Keith. And now, the tables had turned, and it was Keith's turn to be cradled in Lance's arms. 

Lance walked forward, trying to remain stoic and to not become a mushy puddle on the ground, with Keith's petite body in his arms. That became especially difficult when Keith fucking nuzzled his face into Lance's arm. 

_How the fuck is it possible to be that adorable,_ Lance hopelessly thought. 

The moment was quickly gone; however, as Lance reluctantly placed Keith in the pilot's chair, leaving his arms feeling cold in the spots that Keith's body had just been pressing into. 

"I'm just gonna lay down," Lance started. "If you need anything, feel free to-"

He abruptly stopped, mid sentence, as a look of cold seriousness washed over his face. 

"What-"

" _Keith, I hear a ship,_ " Lance whispered. 

Keith's hearing wasn't the greatest since he got bit, but there was no denying the sound of a large spaceship coming closer to the planet each second.

Lance shook the water out of their helmets and put one on Keith, and his on himself. He grabbed his bayard and activated it, for precautionary measures. He crouched next to Keith, making sure to block him from the open, in case they were to be attacked. 

" _It could be the castle,_ " Keith whispered. 

" _Or the Galra,_ " Lance huffed. " _Let's not take our chances._ "

With that, the two boys sat in silence, for what felt like an eternity. 

Lance brought his gun closer to his eyes, and pointed it out the door, as he heard the spaceship come to a stop. 

It was only a waiting game at that point. 

A few minutes passed in complete silence. 

Then, Keith and Lance both heard footsteps, Lance's eyes hardened, and his body squared up to protect Keith. 

_Just save Keith,_ Lance thought. _Make sure he's safe._

And then there were voices. 

" _Ugh, why does this piece of junk never wo-_ "

" _Look! Pidge!_ "

_That was Hunk's voice._

Keith and Lance both looked at each other at that, both of their guards falling down. 

Before the two boys could even blink, they saw Pidge come around the corner and start sprinting toward the pod, with the rest of the paladins not far behind. 

" _Oh my god, Keith!_ " Lance yelled with excitement. " _We're gonna eat food goo again!_ " Never in his life did he think that he'd ever be excited for food goo. 

Lance got up and booked it toward his friends. 

" _Lance!_ " all the paladins screamed with relief when they saw him. 

They barreled into each other for a massive hug. 

Shiro pulled away first and looked around. "Where's Keith? Is he with you?" he asked. 

"Yeah, don't worry. He's in the pod- he really needs medical attention. He got bit by something venomous today. We really have to see Coran," Lance explained. 

"Oh, shoot. Okay, let's get him, then," Shiro said.

They jogged over to the pod to see Keith's condition. 

"Keith, hey," Shiro smiled at his younger brother. 

Keith smiled back. "Hey, guys."

"Uh, so what exactly is wrong with you?" Pidge asked. 

"Keith can't really move," Lance started. "His bitten arm is completely immobile, and his other limbs are barely better."

"Okay, we need to get him to Coran then," Hunk chimed in. 

They all nodded in agreement. Shiro and Hunk ended up grabbing Keith and carrying him. They eventually made it to the green lion, with Keith and Lance debriefing the paladins of their time spent on the miserable planet. 

***

Pidge flew them up to the castle in a hurry to get Keith help. Lance explained to the Alteans about Keith's situation over a video call. 

Green landed in the hangar, and they all rushed out to get Keith to Coran. 

"Keith! Lance! It's great to see you two back," Coran smiled. 

"Yes," Allura started. "We were all extremely worried about you… it was hard without you both," she said, solemnly. 

"Though, we're sure it was much harder for you two," Coran chimed. 

"Yeah, uh, I missed you guys too, but- Keith's kind of dying? Remember?" Lance said. "So… if we could, like, help him _not_ die… that'd be _great._ "

"Right, of course," Coran said, turning toward an immobile Keith, being held up by Hunk and Shiro. "I did a little bit of research on the species that inhabited the planet you two were on, and it turns out that the only living being there is the venomous bunny you ran into! They're quite fascinating creatures, actually! They're cannibalistic, and sometimes even resort to eating their own offspring-"

" _Coran,_ why don't you tell us all about this _after_ we get Keith medical help," Allura said, knowing of all the nonsensical rambles that Coran could get himself into. 

"Right, my mistake," Coran said. "Well, Keith, I have an Altean antidote from the medbay that remedies any type of venom. The only downside to it is that it has some odd side effects."

"What kind of side effects?" Keith asked.

"For one thing, it will make you slur your speech. It causes you to become loopy, as well," Coran said. "You will need to be supervised while the side effects take place."

"How long will it last?" Keith asked. 

"That, I cannot say I have an accurate estimate for. You are half human and half galra, so I'm certain that it will affect you differently than it would to an Altean," Coran explained. 

" _Great._ I'm gonna have to get babysat by everyone else?" Keith groaned. "Can't I just stay in my room the whole time?" 

"I'm afraid not. You will need help with eating, and you could accidentally hurt yourself if you were to be alone," Coran said. 

"Fine," Keith sighed. "Let's just get this over with, then."

"One more thing," Coran started. "The antidote will sedate you right after you drink it, so we should lay you on a cot in the medbay first."

"Okay, that's fine. Can we go get this done now?" Keith said, ever the patient one. 

"Of course," Coran replied cheerily. 

***

"So I just drink all of it?" Keith asked, laying down in a medbay cot. 

"Yes. One of us will stay here with you to make sure that you are okay when you wake," Coran said. 

"Here goes nothing, then," Keith said, and downed the little bottle of purple liquid in one gulp. 

He groggily swayed in his upright position for a few seconds, before flopping down on the cot. 

"I will take the first shift," Coran offered. "I understand how the antidote is supposed to function, so I will know if something is amiss."

The others all agreed that that was the best decision, and went off to their respective sleeping quarters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!! I hope that you guys are excited for chapter three like I am, hehe. I just LOVE loopy, delusional, and drugged Keith (with a side order of caretaker Lance).
> 
> My Instagram is @yasmin.g.art if you wanna follow :)


	3. Side Effects

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is a hot mess. 
> 
> That's it. 
> 
> That's the whole chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the long wait! I really struggled with writing this chapter. The dialogue killed me. Hopefully since it's longer than the others, it'll make up for the longer wait time.

The first thing that Lance did when he made it back to his room was shower. 

It was the greatest shower he'd ever had. 

After nine days of sweating in the cramped jungle, sitting in his flight suit with no other clothes, and not even being able to find a large enough water source to even attempt to get clean, he was desperate for a luxurious night of pampering himself. 

So he took an hour long shower, put on about five different face masks, and strutted around in his bath robe for the whole night. 

It was so refreshing to feel human again. 

That wasn't even the best part. 

He hadn't even thought about what laying in an _actual_ bed would feel like. 

Lance prayed to God and thanked him for making mattresses a universal invention. 

Lance was laying in his bed, about to go to sleep, when he heard a knock on his door. 

" _Ughhh,_ " Lance groaned at the prospect of having to leave the comfort of his bed to answer the door. 

Still, he got up to see what the fuss was about. The door swished open, and he was greeted by Hunk and Pidge, carrying an armful of pillows and blankets. 

"Hey, Lance," Hunk said. 

"Hey?" Lance responded. "What's with all the stuff?"

"We just thought that we'd stop by," Pidge said. 

"Y'know? Since you've been gone, we thought that maybe we could have a sleepover? Like we used to?" Hunk offered. 

_Like we used to. Like back in the garrison,_ Lance thought. _When times were so simple and carefree. It had to have been at least a year, maybe two, since their last sleepover._

He missed that. 

More than anyone could ever know. 

Maybe he was scared to ask them to have one after they got into the war. Maybe he thought that they would think he's childish. Maybe he thought that they'd think he was distracted from fighting the Galra. 

So he didn't ask. 

"Uh, _yeah._ Yes- _definitely,_ " Lance choked out, opening his door and gesturing for them to come in. He couldn't help the little smile stuck on his face at the fact that Pidge and Hunk _did_ want to hang out with him. 

"How should we start this?" Hunk asked. "Face masks? Lance, do you have any?"

" _Ugh, not face masks,_ " Pidge rolled her eyes. 

"Oh, c'mon, Pidge. We all know that you secretly love being pampered with face masks," Lance giggled. 

"No, I don't," she grumbled. 

"Yeah, right," Hunk said. 

"Shut up… " she muttered. 

They had fun like that. Just bantering like old times. Times that Lance had assumed were untouchable, anymore. 

He supposed that he was wrong about that. 

***

Lance, Hunk and Pidge woke up to go have breakfast. 

Well, it was more of Hunk and Pidge berating Lance for not waking up and taking an excessive amount of time to get ready. 

" _Finally,_ " Pidge said after Lance walked out of the door to meet them. "Why did we wait for him, again?"

"Because we're good and patient friends," Hunk said. 

"Pfft, I didn't take that long," Lance said. 

Hunk and Pidge both just gave him a deadpan stare at that. 

They walked the halls and eventually made it to the kitchen, where Allura and Shiro were already seated. 

"Hey, guys," Shiro said. "You can just grab a bowl of food goo. We already started eating."

"Where's Keith and Coran?" Lance asked. 

"Coran notified me that we should keep Keith on the cot for now. We'll all have a cycle of taking care of him. Lance, you're first, so after you finish breakfast, please head to the medbay and give Keith a bowl of food goo," Allura said. 

"How long will my shift be?" Lance asked. 

"We thought it'd be best if we assigned one person each day. So you'll sleep in the medbay with him, or, I suppose, you could try to bring Keith to his room," she said. 

"Great, I'm gonna have to babysit him all day," Lance groaned. 

"How bad is he anyway?" Pidge asked. "Does he really need a caretaker twenty-four-seven?"

"I'm not quite sure about how much the antidote has affected him, but according to Coran, he'll need supervision," Allura said. 

"Well, it'll be no problem for me," Lance smirked. "I can totally control a loopy Keith, no problem."

"I hope he bites your arm," Pidge said. 

" _Pidge,_ " Shiro warned. 

She just huffed at that. 

The team ate breakfast with idle prattle. Lance made sure to eat less food goo than he usually did, to avoid another one of his "eating-way-too much-in-one-sitting" fiascos. 

He got up and grabbed a second helping for Keith. 

"Alright, guys. I'm gonna go see Keith now," Lance said. 

The team waved goodbye as Lance stepped out of the kitchen and headed toward the medbay. 

He stepped inside and saw Corn sitting next to a sleeping Keith. 

"Hey, Coran," Lance said. "Apparently it's my day to take care of Keith, so…"

"Of course! Keith's been asleep for most of my time with him, but he should hopefully wake soon!" 

"Cool. Anything else I should know about the antidote that you didn't say yesterday?" Lance asked. 

"Hm, I don't believe so," Coran said. 

"Thanks, Coran," Lance smiled. 

"My pleasure," Coran said, waving Lance a goodbye as he slipped out of the medbay. 

Lance just stared at Keith's unconscious body. He was all sprawled out on the cot. The sheets ended up falling to the floor after a little shift in movement. 

Lance walked over and picked up the fallen bedsheets, laying them back on top of Keith. Lance sat down in the chair next to Keith, patiently waiting for him to wake up. 

After a few minutes of nothing but silence, Lance was losing said patience. 

The food goo was getting cold. He could have been sleeping. He could have been hanging out with Pidge and Hunk. He could have been writing in his journal. Hell, he could have even been training. 

But instead, he was tasked with staring at Keith's sleeping body. 

Well, he wasn't really tasked with staring, per se, but when was Lance known to follow the rules? 

And along with staring at Keith, and no one around to judge him, came very unwarranted thoughts. 

Lance liked watching Keith sleep, which- okay, _creepy-_ but it was actually kind of nice. 

Lance knew that Keith was attractive. Anyone would have to be blind not to see that. 

Lance knew that he liked looking at Keith. 

Lance took his time to really study Keith's features. There were things most people would never take the time to notice. Keith had long, dark eyelashes. Lance wasn't usually searching for men with pretty lashes, but seeing them lay against Keith's face in his sleep made Lance seriously reconsider the type of men he should look for. Keith also had a nicely structured nose. It wasn't pointy and sharp like Lance's, but it was definitely defined and strong. There weren't any bumps on it either. It was a straight slope down- far straighter than Lance. Keith had really thick eyebrows. Of course, Lance was proud of his own eyebrows (he made sure that they were always " _on point_ "), but there was no denying that Keith had very handsome looking ones. They were dark and thick- such a stark, masculine contrast to the daintiness of his eyelashes and pink lips. Keith didn't even have to try to get them looking nice either, which Lance found was slightly unfair. That wasn't even the worst of it, though. Keith's jawline could literally grate fine parmesan on Lance's spaghetti dinner. 

Keith was one heaping pile of juxtaposition. 

He had a petite body from an outside angle, but a sturdy physique if one were to look closer. He had full and delicate lashes, but strong features framing them on his face. He had pink, soft lips, but a deep and earthy voice came out of them when he spoke. He had clear, porcelain skin, yet it was rough with calluses all over. 

The way he was constantly contradicting everything that Lance thought he knew was enthralling. 

Lance used to think that Keith was stuck up. Lance used to think that Keith thought he was too good for the simple minded fools around him. Lance used to think that Keith had no flaws. Lance used to think that Keith was untouchable- some being that was not real. Lance used to think a lot of things, actually. 

Which, frankly, pisses himself off. How _dare_ he assume such things about Keith? Who was he to judge someone so negatively, simply for a highschool reputation? It made Lance no better than the Keith he'd imagined in his own head. 

Because, then, he got to know Keith. 

Maybe not as well as he'd like to, but Lance thought that he'd finally started to scratch the surface of who Keith really is- an enigma that he'd made up over the years of studying Keith's infamy.

If one were to ask Lance to describe Keith using only one word, he would have used to say _elitist._ Such a no substance, shameful answer. 

If Lance were asked the same question now, he would say that Keith was _authentic._

Authentic was such a complex word. 

Just like Keith. 

Authentic meant real, genuine, and true. It meant worn and weathered.

Lance saw that in Keith. 

Keith was never fake. Nothing about him was materialized. Lance knew that Keith had experienced rough patches in his life, but didn't know what. Hopefully, one day, Lance would learn everything that shaped Keith to be, who Lance thought, was an extraordinary person. 

He just sat in more silence, thinking about Keith at hyper speed, which was nothing new to Lance. 

The food goo grew cold in his lap. 

Finally, after at least a full half an hour of Lance genuinely contemplating whether the antidote actually killed Keith instead because _why isn't he waking up,_ Lance saw Keith's head shift about and his eyes blink open, before staring right at Lance. 

Lance just stared back in silence for a while. 

Then Keith's brows furrowed, he glared at Lance, and jabbed an accusatory finger at his chest. 

" _Who're you?_ " He interrogated. 

Lance shifted back in his chair. "Uhh, I'm Lance? Y'know, number one sharpshooter? The tailor? Man of your dreams?" He tried. Lance had no idea why he was even flirting with a straight and drugged Keith. Lance supposed that he really was good at digging his own grave. 

"Liar. Lance's got orange hair," Keith huffed.

"No, that's Coran. I'm _Lance,_ " he reaffirmed.

" _No,_ " Keith pouted, crossing his arms. 

" _Yes,_ " Lance said. 

Keith inspected Lance some more. "Fine. You can be Lance," Keith mumbled. "But only 'cause I said so."

Lance just gave a deadpan stare at the wall in front of him. 

"Okay, now that you know I'm Lance, why don't we move on to breakfast? I have a bowl of food goo for you," he said. He waved the bowl in front of Keith's face for emphasis. 

Keith looked at the bowl in front of him. 

"Fine," he said, snatching the bowl from Lance's hands and dropping it in his lap. 

Lance watched Keith attempt to feed himself with the spoon, but, apparently, he was extremely uncoordinated and ended up missing his mouth, smearing food goo all over his chin. 

" _...that was rude,_ " he muttered, glaring at the spoon, like it was the reason that he missed his mouth. 

"Here, I'll just do it," Lance offered. 

_It's not like I'm not used to it,_ he thought. 

"What if you poison it?" Keith asked. 

"I'm not gonna poison your food, Keith," Lance said. 

"What if you steal it?"

"I'm not gonna steal it."

"What if you pour it on me?"

" _Jesus Christ,_ Keith," Lance groaned. "I'm not gonna do anything other than feed you. If you don't want my help, then good luck feeding yourself." Lance huffed and crossed his arms. 

Keith looked like he was in deep concentration, going over his options. 

"Fine," he agreed. 

"Not like anything I haven't done before," Lance mumbled. 

"What?" Keith questioned. 

"Nothing that concerns you," Lance said. 

Thankfully, Keith brushed off Lance's comments with no remorse. The antidote probably gave him a very short attention span, Lance presumed.

Lance took the bowl from Keith's lap and grabbed a decently sized spoonful of goo. Keith sat there, quietly waiting for Lance to feed him. 

Luckily, the first bite went very smoothly. Lance didn't have to worry about the awkward tension like he had with the bunny meat, since Keith was way out of it at that point. 

"This tastes like ass," Keith said with the mouthful of goo, right before he spit it out on his lap, like the prim and proper young adult he was. 

_So much for it going smoothly._

" _Why did you spit it out?_ " Lance asked, so done with Keith at that point. 

" _I don't want it,_ " Keith grumbled, looking very guilty. 

"Well, too bad. That's what you're getting," Lance said. 

"I want pizza," Keith complained. 

"Keith, we're in space. _There is no pizza,_ " Lance said. 

" _But I want it,_ " Keith whined, a large pout plastered on his face. 

"I don't know what to tell you," Lance sighed. "It's either food goo, or nothing."

Keith sat in thought over his decision. From an outside point of view, it looked like a life or death decision that Keith was making. 

" _Fine,_ " Keith finally decided. 

"Okay, just please don't spit it out this time," Lance said. 

"Sorry…" Keith muttered, looking uncharacteristically embarrassed. 

Lance continued to spoon-feed Keith, which ended up being equal parts hilarious and painful to watch. Every time Keith was given a new spoonful, a great amount of color drained from his face. When swallowing the food goo, he made the most repulsed grimace Lance had ever seen. 

About halfway through the bowl, Keith couldn't take it anymore, and turned his head to shun the spoon of goo Lance was holding. 

" _Please, no more,_ " Keith begged. 

"You know, you didn't have to eat that much," Lance chuckled. 

"How was I supposed to know that?" Keith asked. 

"It was kinda an unspoken rule," Lance said. "Also, I didn't say anything 'cause it was funny to watch you eat."

" _Dickhead,_ " Keith pouted. 

"I'm aware," Lance responded. 

"I wanna go to the movies," Keith said. 

"You know we're in space, right? I just told you that. There aren't theaters here," Lance said. 

"That's stupid," Keith said. "Can we go to Earth and watch one?"

"No, we can't," Lance reasoned. 

"But I wanna," Keith said. 

"Sometimes, you don't get what you want, and you just have to live with it," Lance spat. 

"Are there space movies?" Keith asked. 

"Okay, if you wanna watch a movie so bad, I'll just go ask Allura if she has any. Happy?"

"Yes," Keith nodded with a large grin. 

_Such a dork,_ Lance thought, with a roll of his eyes and a smile. 

***

Lance knocked on Allura's door, hoping she'd be in there to answer him. Luckily, the door swished open soon after, with her standing in the doorway. 

"Lance? I didn't expect to see you here," she looked around him in confusion. "Where's Keith?"

"Don't worry, princess. Keith's fine. I actually came to ask you to see if there was any way I could watch a movie with Keith? He won't stop asking about it, so…" Lance trailed off. 

Allura's eyes lit up instantly. "Oh, yes! Alteans used to love movies and theatre. We were always prided among alien races for our incredible love for the arts," she reminisced, already turning around and grabbing a basket to dig through.

"I know it's here somewhere," she muttered under her breath, tearing through the poor basket without a care in the world. 

"Aha!" She held up a small cube with Altean writing on it, and a few buttons below the writing. 

"This was one of my favorite movies growing up," Allura explained. "It was deemed a classic all throughout the galaxies. I'd never met a single person who hadn't seen it, or hadn't adored it, as well. My father was great friends with some of the actors. He took me to see the production of it, once." There was a deep rooted longing in her eyes. Of times that seemed to loom behind in her shadow. They were intangible, now. Just a vague memory of the simplicity of enjoying a movie with her family. Now, no matter what she did, she would never get those moments back. The least she could do was let someone else experience a treasured piece of her childhood. 

She handed the cube to Lance, explaining what the buttons did. 

"What's this mean?" Lance asked, pointing to the Altean script. 

"It translates to ' _Pass Me By,_ '" she said, handing Lance the cube. "Please be careful with it… I'm sure you've figured that this movie means so much to me."

"Of course, Allura," he smiled and carefully took the cube from her hands. "I'll return it just how it is right now. Thank you!" Lance waved and went back toward the medbay. 

***

Lance unlocked the door to the medbay and watched it swish open. 

"Keith, I got-"

He stopped mid sentence to look at the sight in front of him. 

Keith was laying like a starfish, on the ground, with food goo smeared all over his body, and the bowl covering his face. 

"Keith! What did you do?" Lance asked, jogging up to him. 

"I don't know," Keith mumbled into the bowl. 

Lance took the liberty of peeling it off of Keith's face for him and setting it aside. 

_God, why me,_ Lance thought. 

" _Keith,_ " Lance said. 

" _Lance,_ " Keith said, looking up at Lance, who was looming over Keith's sprawled body. 

"Why did you do this?" Lance asked, feeling like a deflated balloon. 

" _I thought it'd be a good idea…_ " Keith mumbled, looking like a kicked puppy. 

"It _clearly wasn't,_ " Lance groaned. "C'mon, we'll clean you up." He pocketed the movie cube and heaved Keith up by his arms. 

"Can you walk?" Lance asked. 

"Yeah," Keith said, stepping away from Lance to move on his own. He definitely could walk, but… not very well. He basically looked like he'd just gotten trashed at a club, and was stumbling through the front door to leave. Keith glared at his feet like they had betrayed him.

"Okay, why don't you just hold onto me? We can go to your room, change your clothes, and watch the movie. Okay?" Lance said. 

"Kay," Keith complied, not even feeling up to arguing, as Lance walked him to the sleeping quarters. 

***

"Bring your arms up," Lance told Keith. He did so, and Lance helped pull the dirty shirt off, which he tossed to the side. It was probably for the better that this was happening anyway, seeing as Keith hadn't gotten the chance to get cleaned up after coming back. Lance assumed that Coran took the liberty of changing Keith out of his paladin suit. 

Lance stared at Keith's bare torso. He looked slightly malnourished, which was definitely the result of starving for over a week. Even then, Lance could see that Keith had definition. He had strong abs, most likely from always overworking himself with his excessive training sessions. He definitely wasn't jacked, though. Honestly, Lance preferred that. As much as he could appreciate the shredded physique of a guy like Shiro, Lance totally preferred someone of Keith's shape. It just was hotter to him- a seemingly petite figure, that was actually very rugged, and taken well care of. 

"What're you looking at?" Keith questioned, wrapping his arms around his body and slouching down, self consciously. 

" _Oh, uh,_ nothing," Lance coughed out. _Totally not assessing your nice abs._ "I'll get a towel to clean you up."

He grabbed a clean hand towel from the counter, and filled a bucket with hot water from the sink, putting a little soap in, as well. 

He sat down on the ledge of the bathtub beside Keith, and dipped the cloth in the bucket to start washing him. 

"Is it gonna burn me?" Keith asked. 

"No."

"Will it _dissolve_ me?" He also asked, looking very terrified. 

" _No,_ " Lance reaffirmed. "It's just _water and soap._ Nothing is gonna hurt you. I'm gonna start, now. That okay?"

"Okay…" Keith nodded; though, he looked very wary of the towel. 

Lance reached out with the soaked cloth in hand, and started gently scrubbing at Keith's shoulders. Keith was sitting in silence, but his actions spoke for him. He wouldn't stop fidgeting his hands, or bouncing his knee. Lance had never seen Keith act so restless. 

"You okay?" Lance asked. "You're kinda fidgeting a lot." He made his way down Keith's torso. 

"Mhm," Keith hummed. He continued to fidget. 

Lance looked up at Keith, who was burning holes into the hand that was washing him. 

Lance didn't push it, however. They sat in silence as Lance moved the rag to the side of Keith's torso, and Keith's body started to shake a little. At first, Lance was concerned that Keith was upset, but then he looked at Keith's face to see that it was a tomato red, and he was painfully struggling to stifle his laughter. 

Lance smirked. "Oh? You ticklish, Keith?"

" _No,_ " Keith rasped. 

"You sure?" 

Keith nodded quickly. 

"So then you'll be okay if I do this?" 

" _No, Lance-_ "

Lance tossed the rag in the bucket and came for Keith's sides, ultimately breaking the poor delirious boy's facade. 

Keith was dying. Like, _man,_ Lance had never seen someone laugh so hard in his whole life. It was nice to watch, really. He'd never heard Keith really laugh before; the most he'd ever seen out of Keith was a small chuckle, and even that was a rare occurrence. 

But, wow… Keith had such an adorable laugh. It was so loud and breathy and cute- Lance's heart melted at the pure sound of it. Sometimes, his ears would even be blessed with a little snort, as well, which was just unfair. 

" _Please-_ " Keith heaved a breath. " _Stop-_ " a snort. 

Lance let himself have a few more seconds to take in the hot mess of a boy before him, before deciding to allow Keith an opportunity to breathe. 

Keith sat on his seat, trying to catch his breath, with his face still bright red, and his hair a little messy. 

_God, he's so adorable,_ Lance thought. 

" _Never do that again,_ " Keith commanded, trying to sound angry; though, he really wasn't hitting the mark. 

"You know you loved it," Lance said. 

" _No,_ " Keith reaffirmed. 

"Sure," Lance smiled, grabbing the cloth again to finish washing Keith up. 

He did so, being sure to not get distracted and start tickling a defenseless Keith, again. Lance decided to dedicate that time into memorizing all the little things about Keith's body. The strong v-shape of his pelvis. The tiny bit of his happy trail that peeked out of his pants (which probably only existed to tease Lance and make him suffer). He studied the back muscles that Keith had. They weren't super prominent, but there was definitely shape there. 

Lance finally finished up with Keith (though, he'd probably already dragged out the washing process for longer than deemed necessary). 

"Okay, we can go watch the movie now," Lance said, tossing the towel back into its bucket. 

"Where's the movie theater?" Keith asked. 

"Keith, there's no theater. Allura gave me a thing that'll project it for us," Lance explained. "Remember? Space?"

" _Oh,_ right," Keith nodding with an unnecessary amount of enthusiasm. 

_Adorable._

"We can watch it in your bed," Lance said. 

"Kay," Keith agreed. 

Lance helped Keith out of the bathroom and set up the cube at the end of Keith's bed. 

"Do you need me to get you a shirt?" Lance asked. 

"No, I've got it," Keith said, yet somehow, Lance wasn't very confident in Keith's skills. He decided to give Keith the benefit of the doubt, though. 

That turned out to be a minor mistake, as Lance finished setting the movie up and turned around to see Keith in a pretzel shape and knotted up in his t-shirt. 

"Why am I not surprised," Lance huffed a laugh. Keith was going to be the death of him- not that he'd want to go out any other way. "Lemme help you," he said, walking over to the human pretzel. 

" _I thought I could do it…_ " Keith mumbled through a bundle of fabric. 

"It's fine," Lance chuckled. 

Lance untangled Keith in his little predicament, and helped slide the now wrinkled t-shirt on him. 

"The movie's all set up," Lance said. 

Lance walked Keith to his bed, Lance's arm wrapped around Keith's waist, totally to support Keith, and totally not for the sake of his thirstiness, desperation, or self indulgence. 

Lance settled Keith in next to the wall, and went to press play on the cube. The movie started to play with a soft musical sequence, showing a young girl running through a field of juniberries. 

A title card with the same script that was written on the cube appeared on screen. 

"I don't speak Spanish. What does it say?" Keith asked. 

Lance tried his damnedest to refrain from face palming. "It's Altean, Keith. Allura said that it translates to ' _Pass Me By,_ '" he explained. 

"It looked like Spanish to me…" Keith mumbled. Lance was still barely restraining himself from a face palm. 

"Why don't we just watch the movie?" He said. 

Keith nodded and Lance scooched in next to Keith, making sure to leave a few inches of space between their bodies, even though the small bed didn't allow for a lot of wiggle room.

Keith apparently didn't agree with that, because he made it very clear that he wanted no space between himself and Lance. Keith scooted into Lance's side, latched onto Lance's arm, and put his head on Lance's shoulder. 

_What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck-_

"For comfort," Keith muttered to Lance, like that was any worthy explanation for making Lance's heart pound and his palms sweat. 

"R-right…" Lance choked out, while simultaneously dying. 

For the first half hour of the movie, Lance sat in complete and utter silence, as stiff as a board. 

The editing was phenomenal. The colors were so elegant and vibrant. The music was so pretty sounding, and it never overpowered the actual acting in the scene at hand. They used a cool transition sequence to show the girl growing up, to give a little exposition. Lance could tell that every little detail had a purpose- nothing was added in the final cut without the intent of making the viewer feel something.

"This is good," Keith murmured into Lance's shoulder. 

"Yeah," Lance agreed, trying so hard not to melt into a goopy puddle with Keith's warm body latched onto his side. "It's got a long exposition, though. I hope it'll have enough time to fit in the actual plot."

"You're smart," Keith said. 

Lance looked down to see Keith smiling up at him.

"Oh, uh- sure," Lance awkwardly laughed. 

"You don't think so?" Keith frowned. 

"I dunno," Lance shrugged, averting his eyes. 

"Well I do," Keith stated, as he turned back to the projection. 

Lance leaned his body and head a little more into Keith at that. 

***

Okay, so apparently, Altean movies are long. 

Because they had been sitting there for an hour and a half, when finally, the first new character appeared on screen. 

He was a decently broad shouldered guy, with narrow hips. He had tan skin and dark, shaggy hair. He looked like he put a good amount of care into his looks, but still would probably be decent looking if he'd just rolled out of bed. 

_Not bad,_ Lance thought.

" _Hot damn,_ " Keith said, and proceeded to whistle in appreciation. 

Lance turned to Keith in complete shock. 

" _What?_ " Lance questioned, his jaw wide open. 

"You don't think he's hot?" Keith asked, genuinely puzzled.

"I, uh-"

" _Oh,_ pfft, _right._ You're straight," Keith said to himself. "Never mind."

And that was that on that. 

***

Okay, so Lance really underestimated how long the movie would be. 

Maybe Alteans had longer attention spans than humans, as well? Because they were superior in every other aspect, anyway. 

But damn, they had to have been sitting there for at least five hours. 

That's not to say that Lance wasn't enjoying it- he really was. He was watching an amazing movie play out. He was watching it with Keith, who was probably trying to kill Lance, based on the sole fact that he had snuggled up pretty close and personal. 

And he was still reeling from the comment that Keith made, just hours before. 

What did it mean? Was Keith not straight? Lance was so sure that Keith was straight. But- _now?_ What if he just said that because he was drugged? It could've just been a misstep. Yes. Definitely. It definitely did not mean anything. Lance would just forget about it, and move on. 

So, like the reasonable young adult that he was, he blocked it out of his mind for the time being, and directed his focus toward the movie. 

The girl, who Lance knew as Tallia, now, was standing outside some sort of building. The guy, who Lance also knew as Luka, was standing beside her, deep in conversation. 

It was kind of funny. Their relationship reminded Lance of the one that he had with Keith. 

Tallia and Luka loathed each other at first. 

Tallia's best friend moved out of the house next door, to the other end of Altea. They didn't have internet like back on Earth, so the only way they could communicate was through a small communication device that took about an hour to send and receive a message. It made Tallia go into a depressive state, losing the only friend she had, and not being able to properly communicate. 

Then Luka and his family moved into her old friend's house. And, although undeserving, she completely resented Luka for that. 

They knew just how to push each other's buttons- like Keith and Lance used to. 

But then, as time went on, their walls started to crumble- like Keith and Lance. 

Now they were talking about nothing and everything. And it made sense. It felt natural. A seamless transition into friendship. Companionship. A harmony together. 

Although Lance found it to be slightly pathetic, he was enjoying projecting his relationship with Keith onto the characters. 

And because Lance knew that he'd probably never be in a situation like this with Keith ever again, Lance took a risk, and with a heavily beating heart, he moved his arm and wrapped it around Keith's waist, pulling the boy even closer than before. 

Lance looked down at Keith, who, to Lance's utter shock, was softly smiling with a small blush across his cheeks. 

In turn, that made Lance bite his bottom lip to stifle his smile. He decided to stay focused on the movie after that. 

***

About an hour later, there was a knock on Keith's door. 

"Lance? Keith? You guys in here?" They heard Hunk say. 

"Yeah," Lance said. "You can come in. It's unlocked."

Keith paid no attention to the door when it slid open, with Hunk in the threshold. 

"I just wanted to tell you that it's din-" 

He cut himself off as he looked at the scene before him. Lance watching a movie. Cuddling with Keith. A willing Keith, for that matter. 

Hunk looked awestruck. 

_I know,_ Lance mouthed to him in disbelief, as well. 

_Congrats,_ Hunk mouthed back, giving two massive thumbs ups to Lance, as they proceeded to air high five. Hunk had known about Lance's crush on Keith for a while. It wasn't too hard to figure out when Lance was literally the most obvious person in the universe. 

"Well, uh… I guess I'll leave you two to it, then," Hunk said, backing away. 

"Bye, Allura," Keith said. 

Hunk looked at Lance quizzically, but Lance just shrugged and shook his head in response. 

"Well, uh- have fun!" Hunk said, quickly dipping out of the room. 

Lance figured that they could just skip dinner, anyway. 

***

Keith and Lance were hot messes. 

They were snotting all over Keith's bed. It wasn't pretty. 

Tallia and Luka had been wandering in a forest together. They were climbing a tree, when, suddenly, the branch that Tallia was climbing on snapped, and she fell about twenty feet down to the ground. 

The rest of the scene was filled with Luka frantically climbing back down to Tallia, who was screaming agony. 

She'd fallen on a decently large rock that pierced her in the side. 

Luka had spastically waved his hands around, trying to figure out something to solve the horrible predicament. She had to have had broken ribs and a concussion, at least. 

Luka made the decision without thinking, picked Tallia up, and started sprinting. Her screams were growing fainter, the pain probably numbing and her body growing weaker as she lost more blood. 

He ran and ran, until he found a small house beside a river. He screamed at the top of his lungs for help, and eventually, the front door burst open with a concerned looking woman. She took a look at Tallia and froze up. 

Luka begged for her help, and she just nodded, yelling to her whole household to help. 

A few more bodies came rushing in. By some crazy miracle, one was a medic, and he knew exactly what to do in the situation. 

They threw her on a bed, and he got to work. Everyone was sent out of the room, except for the lady that answered the door, who stayed with him to help. 

Luka paced back and forth, nonstop, staring at the blood that had stained his arms from carrying Tallia. 

The family tried to comfort him, but there was no point. He wouldn't be resting until he knew that Tallia was okay. 

Eventually, the man and the lady came out of the room. 

They said that Tallia was alive and cleaned up. She'd definitely broken some ribs and had a concussion. They'd used a communication device to contact an ambulance to take her and Luka. 

Luka broke down at that, and repeatedly thanked the family for saving her. 

Days passed with him by her side in the hospital.

Luka's family finally made him come home to get some fresh air. He waited for weeks for any news of her recovery.

He was home alone- his parents both working. 

There was a knock on the door. 

He went to answer it.

He heard a voice say his name through it when he approached. 

He heard her voice. 

Wasting no time, he ripped the door open and took one look at Tallia, both with tears dotting their eyes. 

They stepped forward and squeezed each other in a tight embrace, staying in the same position for minutes. 

Tallia mumbled something into Luka's shoulder. 

He asked her to repeat it. 

"I love you."

Luka looked completely dumbfounded. 

Tallia started to back away, due to Luka's lack of response. Then she started to nervously ramble. 

Luka composed himself, grabbed her chin, and confessed. 

"I love you, too."

That scene had Lance and Keith sobbing uncontrollably. Lance, because he's a dramatic, hopeless romantic, who will cry during just about any slightly emotional scene in a movie. And Keith, most likely because he was completely drugged and out of it, so his emotions were all over the place. 

Finally, after about ten hours of the movie, it concluded with a shot of Tallia and Luka going in for a kiss, and panning out to showcase the beauty of Altea. 

***

Lance wasn't able to breathe because of all of the snot stuck in his nose, but at least he had stopped crying like he was before. 

Keith, on the other hand, was still sobbing his heart out, with no sign of stopping. 

"Need another tissue?" Lance asked. 

"Y-yes," Keith stuttered between sobs. 

"That movie really, got to you, huh?"

"It was-" sob- "so-" sob- "beautiful."

"I know," Lance rubbed Keith's back, continuing to supply him with tissues. 

Eventually, Keith's crying slowed down to shallow breaths. 

"You okay now?" Lance asked. 

Keith nodded his head and rubbed his eyes. "Uh, 'm tired," he mumbled, followed by a yawn. 

_How is it possible to be that adorable,_ Lance thought. 

"We should go to bed," Lance said. 

"Mhm," Keith agreed, curling into a ball and grasping Lance's shirt, dragging him down as well. 

"Woah, uh- why don't I just sleep on the floor?" Lance offered. 

"Why?" Keith asked, completely dumbfounded. 

"Because the bed is small?" 

"So?" Keith said. "It's comfy. You're warm. Stay."

"I'm warm?" Lance gulped. 

"Yes. _Duh,_ " Keith said into his pillow, like Lance was a complete moron for not knowing that. "Now lay down."

Lance did as he was told, and reached over to the movie cube and set it down on the floor. He wanted to keep his promise to Allura that he'd bring it back in one piece. 

He laid on his side, facing away from Keith. He wanted to be able to breathe without going into a bi-panic, for once. 

That strategy didn't really do him any favors; though, as Keith snuggled up to him and put his forehead against the nape of Lance's neck. 

"G'night, Lance."

"Night, Keith," Lance sighed, staring at the wall in front of him, the day's events playing in his mind like a broken record, as he prayed to God, hoping to even be able to get an ounce of sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I really hope that you guys liked this chapter. As I stated previously, I struggled so much with this one. I hope it lives up to your expectations. Please tell me what you think in the comments- even if you didn't like it, I want to know. It'll hopefully help me get better. 
> 
> I'm also extremely sorry about the movie part. I know it's super cliche, and probably really boring, but I wanted to include it to showcase how emotional our boys can be. I know that it wasn't actually that dramatic, haha. But, you know Lance and drugged Keith- they are two huge disasters. 
> 
> My Instagram is @yasmin.g.art for those of you who wanna follow :)


	4. Yeehaw

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is yeehawing his way through the war, and Lance needs to learn how to keep his jaw shut around Keith.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CONTENT WARNING: There is a very brief mention of vomit, but it's like one whole sentence. 
> 
> Hey, y'all. First of all, I'm SO sorry that it's been ages since the last update. My computer broke, so I had to write this whole chapter on my phone, which isn't the most ideal situation. I'm getting a new computer soon, so hopefully updates will be faster after that. I also struggled A LOT with thinking of dialogue and scenes in general for this chapter, so that played a part, too. Hopefully it being longer than the other chapters will make up for the wait. 
> 
> Also, something I probably should've said when I posted the first chapter is that Lotor, Honerva/Haggar, and Romelle don't really exist in this universe. Why? Because I don't feel like rewatching Voltron just to understand their roles in the show and trying to incorporate them into this fic, which I never wanted to take super seriously, anyway. I hope y'all can forgive me and understand. So it's just Zarkon as the main antagonist, and no one else. Also, this is set sometime where Keith knows he's half Galra, but hasn't left to be a blade, and Shiro is also not a clone (yay).

Keith blinked his eyes open. He couldn't really see- there was something in front of him. 

_It smells nice,_ he thought, smiling as he pressed his face closer into it. _And it's warm._

Keith laid there in a small bliss over the comfortable thing that he was spooning, until, eventually, something didn't really seem right… 

_Wait a minute._

Keith quickly pulled back to see that he was, in fact, big spooning Lance. 

" _What the fuck-_ " Keith muttered, as Lance groaned and turned at Keith's sudden movement. 

Keith found himself sitting up, frozen in place, eyes locked on Lance. 

Lance opened his eyes and looked directly at Keith. 

" _Uhhh-_ hi?" Lance tried. 

Keith continued to stare with wide eyes. 

" _What happened?_ " He questioned. 

"Um- you don't remember?" Lance asked. 

"Remember _what?_ "

"Y'know, you were drugged with the antidote," Lance explained. "Do you remember anything after drinking it?"

_Remember anything…_

Keith rooted around in his memory for something. 

He remembered Coran explaining the side effects, him drinking the antidote, and everything going black. 

And he remembered waking up, just then. Nothing else in between. 

"No…? I just woke up," Keith said. 

" _Ah,_ so… then you're probably kinda confused about, uh-" Lance awkwardly gestured around them in the bed. " _this._ "

" _Yes,_ " Keith choked out. 

"Funny story, actually…" Lance awkwardly laughed. "You kinda dragged me down with you, onto your bed after we watched a movie, so…"

"I what."

"Hey, dude- I offered to sleep on the floor, but you weren't having it-"

Keith cut Lance off with a huge groan. 

_Goddamnit,_ Keith thought. _Why do I have to go and completely make a fool of myself in front of Lance?_

"Keith, it's okay," Lance said, putting his hand on Keith's shoulder. "You really didn't do anything wrong."

"Speak for yourself," Keith muttered. 

"You were drugged, man. Maybe loopy and delirious Keith proved that regular Keith is actually affection-starved," Lance teased, poking at Keith's chest. 

"Shut up," Keith said, playfully pushing Lance's arm to the side. 

Except, apparently Keith used more force than intended, because he accidentally sent Lance flying off the bed. 

"Hey!" Lance shrieked, diving to tackle Keith as payback. 

"No, Lance! I didn't mean-"

Except Keith was cut short, because Lance went for his sides, which Keith completely resented. The frustrating part was that Keith couldn't even fight back because Lance was tickling his sides and he was heaving for breath and snorting-

Oh, god, why did he have to snort? Lance probably thought that he sounded like a pig. Except, looking up at Lance, Keith saw that Lance was giggling at the display under him. 

"Lance," Keith barked out in between snorts, which made Lance's smirk widen even more. 

Keith couldn't take that cocky smile, anymore, though. He mustered up all of his willpower and wriggled out from under Lance's touch, pinning Lance's arms to his back. 

"This is payback," Keith breathed, still panting, into Lance's ear. 

"Damn, Keith. I just wanted to hear that cute laugh of yours," Lance smiled. 

Keith made a high pitched sound back in his throat at that comment, and freed Lance from his grip. 

"I'm leaving," Keith bluntly said, slipping past Lance and grabbing his Marmora knife. 

"Woah, dude, where are you going?" Lance asked. 

"Training," Keith said, leaving his room with Lance still sitting on the bed. 

_Way to evade that, you gay disaster,_ Keith thought, practically sprinting to the training room. 

***

" _Oh my god,_ " Lance groaned, barging into Hunk's room with no warning. 

"Lance? What's wrong?" Hunk asked, looking up from some gadget he must have been working on. 

"I'm so fucked," Lance said. 

"Why?"

"Because-" he started. " _Keith._ "

" _Ohh,_ " Hunk nodded, like that clarified everything that he needed to know. He set down his tools and turned toward Lance. This was serious business. 

"I just- I don't know what to do," Lance said. "Every time I see him, I just reduce to a puddle. I was tickling him earlier and just- _his laugh!_ It's so adorable! Is he trying to kill me? Why doesn't he laugh more often? He really fucking should, with a laugh like that."

Lance groaned into his hands for good measure. 

"Oh, you've got it bad, buddy," Hunk said, patting Lance's shoulder and shaking his head sympathetically. 

" _I know,_ " Lance dragged his hands down his face for emphasis. "It's not even just his laugh or his looks- he's such a good person. It's so damn frustrating. And after a day like yesterday, I have no fucking _clue_ what he's thinking!"

"What happened yesterday? You mean the cuddling?" Hunk asked. 

"Yeah," Lance said. "When I sat down after setting up the movie he just scooched over and clung to my arm."

"That's gotta mean something, man," Hunk encouraged Lance. 

"I don't know… he was pretty out of it,” Lance sighed. “But when this hot guy showed up in the movie Keith was all like, _'hot damn'_ and he _whistled._ ” 

Hunk’s eyebrows flew up in shock. "Dude, there's no way you can keep calling him straight after _that._ "

"I'm still not sure," Lance stared at the ground with a shrug. "Like I said, he was really out of it-"

" _Paladins!_ Please come to the bridge. We're going to have a meeting," Allura said over the comms, interrupting Lance and Hunk's conversation. 

Hunk and Lance made their way down the hallway to the bridge. 

"So what are you gonna do?" Hunk whispered to Lance, just in case anyone could overhear. 

"I dunno. I'll probably just not tell him about any of it. He didn't even remember anything when he woke up," Lance whispered back. 

"I'd talk to him about it," Hunk advised, turning the corner to enter the bridge of the castle with Lance, where the others were already standing and waiting for the meeting to start, save for Keith. 

After another minute of waiting, Keith finally showed up, as Lance fell to his demise.

Keith was jogging up, sweaty and slightly panting, a white towel around his neck, clearly coming from his own training session. Lance felt his body go rigid at such a sight. Did Keith ever give himself a break? Would he ever give _Lance_ a break?

Lance felt his side nudged by Hunk’s elbow, and saw Hunk smirking from Lance to Keith.

“Shut up,” Lance muttered, glaring at his traitorous friend and turning away from Keith, because, obviously, he wasn’t ogling Keith.

However, Allura cut off that train of thought as soon as Keith stood with them. 

“Oh, Keith! It’s great to see you back to normal. Although, I am surprised that you recovered so quickly,” Allura said. 

“Actually,” Coran cut in. “I did a little more research after handing Keith off to Lance, and it turns out that the antidote’s side effects have a quicker duration when used on Galrans! If you had been Altean, the side effects would have lasted you about a week.”

“Good. At least I can get back to training, now,” Keith said, ever the one to let himself rest.

"I called you guys down because there is a nearby planet that will be extremely beneficial for us to align with. They are very powerful and have been able to stay free from the Galran reign for thousands of years," Allura explained. “We’ve already contacted their King and Queen, who seemed quite excited for us to come."

"Cool," Lance said. He had always loved the diplomatic missions they went on, save for the few times that they had to deal with an alien species that was full of mentally unstable rulers. "When are we gonna head there?"

"We should be arriving in a few vargas. You guys don't have to wear anything formal, since they are known to be quite an easy going species," Allura said. 

The team nodded and headed back to their respective rooms, except for Keith, who headed back toward the training room.

***

Allura called everyone down to the bridge of the castle after a couple hours passed. 

"Okay, everyone," she started. "We're landing on the planet now."

Keith learned that the planet was called Mari. It was highly respected, even though the Marian people were known to be something less than formal and elegant. He didn't know exactly what that entailed, so he stayed a little wary of the Marians as the castle landed. 

The team stepped out of the entrance, minus Coran, who stayed back with the castle. There was a crowd of Marians, and two nicer looking ones, who Keith presumed to be the King and Queen. _‘Nicer’_ might not have been the greatest adjective; though, seeing as the Marians, oddly enough, looked like a bunch of farmers.

" _Howdy,_ Paladins of Voltron," the presumed Queen said, accompanied with a thick southern accent, stepping forward. "I'm the Queen of Mari, and this fine fella' next to me is the King." She nudged the King's arm for emphasis. 

_This is… unexpected,_ Keith thought.

"As much as we're sure y'all are trustworthy, we can't take the chance of blindly aligning with you," the King added. 

"We completely understand," Allura started. "We'll do anything you ask of us to show our loyalty. Thank you for letting us stay."

"No problem," the Queen smiled and turned toward a more common looking citizen. "Torsi, please show the Paladins to their rooms, now."

A young, male Marian nodded to the Queen, and turned toward the Paladins. 

"I'll be takin' y'all to your rooms," Torsi said, gesturing for them to follow. 

Lance shuffled over next to Keith as they followed Torsi along a pathway. 

"Who knew we'd be hanging out with a bunch of farmers?" Lance muttered under his breath. 

"Yeah, and they've got southern accents!" Keith whispered with a giggle. 

"How does a coincidence like that even happen?" Lance muttered. 

"I dunno. It's honestly kinda freaky," Keith whispered. "At least they haven't tried to kill us, yet."

"Yet? You have so little faith in people," Lance chuckled. 

Keith just shrugged. "Better to be safe than sorry," he motioned to his Marmoran blade attached to his waist. 

"I'm sure they'll take kindly to you hiding a knife at your waist," Lance deadpanned. 

"I'm just cautious."

"More like paranoid," Lance mumbled. 

Keith huffed and straightened up, crossing his arms in defiance. 

Eventually, they made it to a cottage that was as large as a mansion. It looked like something straight from a fairytale book. The trim to the windows and door was a dark wood with little carved details. There were window boxes plush with all sorts of flowers. It was very calm. There was warm lighting on the porch.

"This is where y'all will be stayin'," Torsi said, opening the door for the team to enter. "Your rooms have got your names on 'em, and custom made outfits. Come out after you've changed, and I'll take ya to your feast with the King and Queen."

"Thank you for your hospitality. This is gorgeous," Allura smiled in appreciation, as Torsi headed out to wait on the porch with a little wave. 

"We're gonna have to dress up like farmers?" Pidge asked. 

"It's best if we do," Shiro said. "We don't want to disrespect their culture."

"Right," Allura agreed. 

They all headed to their respective rooms to try on the outfits. 

Keith's room was small and cozy. It had a little bed in the corner, plump with pillows and comforters. There was a small window with a large windowsill that had cushions for seating. The sky to the planet was a honey yellow, giving his room a nice, warm glow. 

On the bed, his outfit was laid out. There was a red flannel, dark blue jeans, cowboy boots, and a cowboy hat. 

_This is totally freaky,_ Keith thought. 

Still, he slipped out of his own clothes and changed into the ones on the bed. They fit his figure perfectly. The clothes felt so familiar. They reminded him of his childhood back in Texas. He missed that a lot. 

Keith stepped out of his room, his leather boots tapping on the floor with each step. He didn't put on the cowboy hat, but he brought it with him, anyway. 

Shiro and Allura were already dressed and waiting in the main room. They both had the same outfit as Keith, but their flannels were all different colors. Allura had a dusty pink flannel on, and Shiro sported a black one. 

Pidge came out of her room with an electric green one, and Hunk followed seconds after in his mustard colored flannel. 

"Now we're just waiting for Lance," Allura said. 

"Shocker," Pidge said. 

After a few minutes of idle chatter, and Lance taking an excessive amount of time to get ready, the boy finally emerged from his room. 

Instead of just lazily throwing on the clothes, like everyone else did, Lance paid attention to the smaller details in his outfit. For starters, he had cuffed the bottom of his jeans. It showed off a little more of the cowboy boots. The sleeves of his flannel were rolled up just past his elbows, revealing his forearms, which, for some godforsaken reason, Keith found really attractive. 

_Just the woes of being gay,_ he thought. 

But the thing that killed him the most when he looked at Lance?

He had tucked his flannel in, to reveal high waisted jeans. 

And, _goddamn,_ the way it made Lance's already narrow waist _narrower,_ and made his already broad shoulders _broader,_ made it impossible for Keith to keep his jaw shut. 

Could anyone really judge the poor boy for openly gawking at the beautiful display in front of him?

Apparently, Shiro could, as he slapped Keith on the back, smirking. 

"Try not to drool," Shiro muttered, at least being quiet enough, as not to out Keith's obvious crush. 

Keith went stiff and clamped his jaw back shut, having no retorts to Shiro's comment. 

Thankfully, Allura unknowingly cut them off, getting back to business. 

"We can go out to Torsi, now. It would be rude to keep him waiting," she said.

Keith nodded more eagerly than the rest of them, just to save himself from staring at Lance, and quickly shuffled to the front porch with the rest of the team following behind. 

He ignored the amused scoff from Shiro in the background. 

***

"To prove to our people that you paladins are strong, we'll have y'all ride a mechanical swoomish," the Queen said. "If none of y'all do well, then we can't accept aligning with you. As much as the King and I do trust y'all, we need to stay true to our people. If you all fail, then my people will think y'all are too weak to lead a war front. Torsi'll start by warming y'all up with some other games."

"We completely understand," Allura replied. "We will make sure to do our best in your games."

"Ten bucks that I'll beat you on the swoomish?" Lance whispered to Keith. 

"Y'know we're in space, right? How are we gonna get money? And we don't even know what a swoomish is," Keith muttered. 

"Sounds like you're just chicken shit," Lance said. 

Keith side eyed Lance for a moment. "Just remember to pay me back when we get back to Earth," he smirked, exuding confidence.

Lance scoffed and rolled his eyes, which he _totally_ did not do to hide the fact that he found Keith's confidence extremely hot. 

" _We'll see,_ " Lance muttered. 

"First, we can have our feast," the King chimed in. "We wouldn't want y'all competin' on empty stomachs!"

"That sounds wonderful," Allura said. 

The team was led to a room that was pretty spacious, yet it still felt warm and cozy. There was a large table in the center with heaping plates of food that looked and smelled amazing. 

"Wow," Lance whistled. "This looks awesome!" 

"Thank you," the Queen said. "Our cooks made sure to give y'all their best service."

"Y'all can just take a seat wherever you'd like," the King smiled, sitting at the head of the table. The Queen went to the other head and sat there. 

Keith sat in the middle seat, and Lance followed, sitting to the left of Keith (totally not because he was a ho who needed close proximity with Keith at all times). Shiro went to the right of Keith, mainly because it was the closest seat to where he was standing. Allura, Pidge, and Hunk all went across to the other side of the table for more space. It wasn't like there was much space, anyway, seeing as the table was completely crowded with heaping piles of food. 

"Please, help yourselves to whatever you want," the King told the team. 

Keith, apparently, took that advice to heart, because he practically lunged for all the platters of food at once. The rest of the team was slightly shocked at Keith's eagerness, but decided to ignore it and help themselves, much more courteously instead. 

"Aren't you a little eager," Lance said to Keith. 

"Huh?"

" _Dude,_ you practically took all of the food for yourself," Lance said, pointing to the massive overload of various meals on Keith's plate with a serving fork. "How are you even gonna eat all of that?"

Shiro scoffed at Lance. "Clearly, you don't know Keith as well as you thought."

"What do you mean?" Lance asked. 

"His stomach is a bottomless pit," Shiro said. "Trust me, after helping him out in his Garrison days, I've seen Keith devour an entire refrigerator by himself, and still feel hungry."

"Then why don't you eat that much food goo?" Lance asked Keith. 

"'Cause it tastes like ass," he said. 

" _Language,_ " Shiro warned, as Keith tsked. 

"I'll believe it when I see it," Lance said, very doubtful that Keith could even eat a fourth of what was on his plate. 

Except, about ten minutes later, Keith's plate was completely spotless, as he reached over for seconds. 

"Holy shit," Pidge and Hunk said in accidental unison, with Shiro spouting another _'language'_ in the background. 

"That's just not human," Lance breathed. 

"Good thing I'm not fully human, then," Keith said. 

"Where did it go?" Lance asked, completely dumbfounded as he looked all around Keith and under the table for the food, because, surely, there was _no way_ that Keith actually ate all of it, and was still hungry. 

"We're very happy that you like the food," the King said to Keith, looking almost afraid that Keith would end up eating his plate and silverware, too. 

"Oh, uh, yeah- thank you," Keith replied with little care, seeing as he was halfway through stuffing his mouth full with some kind of meat. 

"I told you," Shiro said to Lance. 

" _No kidding._ "

Lance also learned that Keith had literally no table manners. The weird alien silverware beside his plate hadn't even been touched since the start of the meal. His elbows were on the table- something Lance's mom would totally berate him for, and Keith took no breaths in between bites of food. 

"Keith, y'know there's silverware?" Lance nudged him in the elbow.

"What about it," Keith muffled in disinterest with some pink fruit stuffed in his mouth. 

"Why don't you use it?" Lance whispered. "We're eating in front of royalty, y'know."

Keith huffed a sigh through his nose and reluctantly picked up the silverware. He clearly was never taught the proper way to hold it ( _like a pencil,_ Lance's parents used to say). Keith fisted the fork-like object and completely neglected the knife, opting to stab hunks of food and eat them off the silverware in skewer form, like the Neanderthal he was. 

Lance decided that making any comments about Keith's silverware holding technique would be futile. 

Maybe, Lance also found it strangely cute and endearing. It was just the little things with Keith. 

After about thirty minutes, some kitchen staff came to clean up the table and end the meal. Everyone had finally eaten their share. Keith probably consumed as much food as everyone else at the table combined, yet he didn't even seem full when the staff members took it all away. In fact, he seemed almost upset watching what was left of the food get taken away from him. 

"And I thought that I liked food," Hunk laughed. 

"It's not the same, though," Shiro said. "You actually care about flavor and quality, Keith just cares about inhaling anything remotely edible in his sight."

"The flavors are the most important part, though! Keith, you have to savor the flavors!" Hunk begged. 

"I still liked the food," Keith shrugged, not caring about _savoring the flavors._

"We're glad y'all enjoyed it," the Queen said, putting an end to their banter. 

"We can take you to the games now. Come along," the King gestured for them to follow him. 

***

The team was taken down a hallway that had a set of double doors at the end. They opened it up to a large, chaotic looking room. It was crowded with Marians, and smelled of sweat and mud. There were tables of food and drinks. There were some table games and other activities that Marians were crowded around. The largest crowd was near the back, but it was blocking the view of whatever was actually going on. The whole place was filled with loud screams and cheers. 

"We'll have Torsi show y'all around," the Queen said. "You can warm up on the table games, but when you get over there-" she nudged her head toward the large crowd in the back. "That's when doin' well will matter. My people need to see that you're strong soldiers."

"Thank you," Allura smiled. 

The King and Queen nodded and headed off to a secluded section of the room. 

"Okay, y'all can just follow me. Feel free to take some food and drinks from the tables," Torsi said, walking past a food table to a group of Marians playing some sort of game. Lance didn't miss Keith stuffing a few pastries in his mouth from the food table as the team followed Torsi. 

Torsi greeted the Marians at the game. It appeared to be a blow dart version of a darts game, but the dart board was a triangle instead of a circle, and the darts were actually arrows. The Marians in their game stepped away to give the team a chance to play. 

"The game's simple," Torsi started, grabbing a long tube and an arrow from a pile on the ground. "You just put the arrow in the shooter, and blow on it. You wanna hit the corners of the triangle," Torsi brought the tube with the arrow to his mouth and blew. The arrow pierced a few inches beneath the top corner of the triangle board with ease. Torsi handed the shooter and arrow to Shiro to try. 

Shiro took in a deep breath, steadied the shooter, and blew. The arrow made it about one foot in front of him before its timely demise to the dirty ground. 

Shiro sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck while the Marians who were previously in a game were snickering at his sad attempt from the side. "Haha… I guess blow darts aren't for everyone?" He said, handing the shooter to the closest person next to him, which just so happened to be Pidge. 

"So we're just putting our mouths on the same dirty tube that everyone else has already put their dirty mouths on?" She questioned, looking very grossed out by the mouthpiece part of the shooter. 

"Yep," Torsi said, not caring at all about Pidge's personal hygiene. 

She shrugged it off; however, and tried for a chance to strike the dart board. Her shot was almost as pathetic as Shiro's, landing only a foot past his. Allura went after, and hers looked promising, with the arrow at least hitting the wall, even though it didn't have enough momentum to actually pierce the wall and stay there. Hunk had the first semi successful shot, his arrow missing the triangle board, but at least sticking in the wall, and actually staying there for a solid three and a half seconds. 

The Marians were all looking at each other with their eyebrows raised in silent communication, as if to say, _these are really the people that are defending the universe? Some random aliens who can't even play a simple game of triangle darts?_

It was Keith's turn next, and he looked very determined to get a good shot. Sucking in deeply, he steadied the tube against his mouth and glared at the board. Releasing a sharp breath, the arrow flew quickly and struck the triangle board, a little off center. 

Keith nodded to himself as the team cheered on his shot that was leagues above theirs, handing the shooter to Lance. 

"Beat that," Keith smirked. 

Lance, however, completely ignored Keith's smug remark and turned to  
Torsi. "Which corner?" Lance asked. 

That made Torsi raise his eyebrows in slight shock, seeing how confident Lance was in his capabilities, that he would want someone to request which corner he shot. 

"Bottom left," Torsi said, crossing his arms. 

Turning toward the board, Lance put an arrow in the shooter, raised it to his lips, and blew out. The arrow flew cleanly through the air, piercing exactly in the bottom left corner of the board. 

"What'd you say, Keith?" Lance smiled, his face ever the look of feigned innocence. 

Keith huffed and turned away. 

They played more games like that. Games that were eerily similar to Earth ones, but had one or two differences in them. It was actually really nice. It gave Keith a little nostalgia from when his life was simpler, back in Texas with his dad. 

***

“Alright, y’all have done enough warm up games,” Torsi said. “You’re gonna have to ride a mechanical swoomish. The King and Queen are expecting y’all to do well.”

The team nodded in unison, not really sure what to expect of a “ _mechanical Swoomish_ ”.

Torsi led them to the back of the room where the large crowd was gathered. The King and Queen were already waiting near the crowd, looking very excited when they saw the team appear. 

“Howdy, y’all,” the Queen said. “I’m guessin’ you’re ready to ride the mechanical swoomish?”

“Yes, but if you don’t mind me asking, what exactly is a _‘mechanical swoomish’_ ,” Allura asked.

“Oh, right! Y’all are probably confused. A swoomish is a large, sacred animal to our people. We’ve created a mechanical version that tries to throw the rider off its back,” the Queen explained.

“So… it’s like a mechanical bull?” Lance asked.

The King and Queen exchanged glances in confusion. 

“I guess that’s what y’all might call it,” the Queen shrugged.

“Well, our people have been eager for y’all to ride it. They’re expecting at least one of y’all to do good on it,” the King said.

“And if no one does well?” Shiro questioned.

“We wouldn't be able to align with y’all,” the Queen said with a grimace. 

“But we’ve got faith in y’all!” The King encouraged.

The King and Queen motioned for the team to follow, and took them to a woman Marian at a control panel. The Queen whispered something to the woman, who nodded excitedly. 

“This is Lysia,” the Queen said. “She’ll be controlling the mechanical swoomish when y’all go up.”

The team waved and smiled at her, all silently pleading for mercy in their heads. 

Being at the control panel, and finally not behind the crowd of Marians, Lance had a clear view of what the Marians had been standing around. 

There was a circular ring. It was raised a few feet from the ground, completely filled with mud. In the center, was the mechanical swoomish and a Marian riding it. They lasted a solid eleven seconds before being tossed off into the mud, the crowd's cheers turning into a pitiful 'aw'. The swoomish itself looked very bulky and sturdy. It had horns like a rhinoceros, but its body looked like a mammoth's. It had a vibrant purple fur coat. 

After the Marian made it out of the ring, the Queen stepped forward and spoke. 

"Alright, everyone! The team of Voltron is finally gonna take a go at the swoomish!" The crowd whooped with anticipation, as Marians that were hanging around at other games dropped what they were doing to go watch the team.

"No pressure," Lance muttered sarcastically to Keith, who huffed a chuckle at that.

"As long as at least one of them does good on the swoomish, we'll align with them in the war effort. If none of them can conquer the swoomish, however, they'll be deemed too weak to lead the war, and we won't align," the Queen said, and the Marians nodded together like they all already understood and agreed to those terms. 

"We'll let them decide the order they go in," the King announced. 

At that, Pidge sighed, accepting her timely defeat. "I'll go first, y'know, to get it over with."

The team nodded in understanding. 

Lysia pressed a button that caused a staircase to open up from the side of the pit, with a metal walkway that went above the mud pit and to the swoomish, so whoever was riding wouldn't get muddy on their way there. 

Pidge's attempt to get on top of the swoomish was a hassle in and of itself, but eventually, after some rude snickers from the crowd, she made it on top. Lysia pressed the button, which retracted the walkway and stairs. 

Pidge adjusted her position and gave Lysia a thumbs up as an okay to start, but it was fairly obvious to any onlookers that Pidge did not look okay. 

The swoomish started to move, and Pidge held onto the horns with a vice grip. She made it a solid two and a half seconds, before the swoomish threw her forward and she landed in the mud. 

Walking back, the team consoled her, stepping away, as to not dirty themselves, and Hunk reluctantly volunteered to go next. He also wanted to get it over with. 

The crowd perked up slightly at that, hoping that the bigger guy would be harder to throw off. 

Looking uneasy on the swoomish, he gave the thumbs up. As it started, no one could have missed the moment when all the color drained from Hunk's face, as he hugged the body of the swoomish. At least lasting a few seconds longer than Pidge, he was soon thrown off the side and doused in mud. Hunk sprinted out of the pit and made it to the nearest trash can, shamelessly vomiting in front of the Marians, who just winced at the sight.

The team gave him pitiful consolations on his way back. 

Lance went up next. He looked very disgusted at the prospect of getting muddy, but knew that it was inevitable. 

Giving the okay to start, Lance held onto the horns tightly and leaned forward. He lasted around as long as Hunk did, but at least refrained from barfing. 

The crowd wasn't very loud. They honestly looked equal parts disappointed, scared, and humored that these were the people who supposedly were saving the universe. 

Shiro went next. The crowd seemed excited for him, seeing as he was basically walking testosterone. 

Giving Lysia a thumbs up, Shiro gripped tightly onto the bull. The bull jerked and twisted, and Shiro was definitely doing much better than the rest of the team. After about fifteen seconds of everyone regaining hope for the universe, Shiro was whipped back into the mud with a big splash.

"Yeah, Shiro!" Pidge cheered for him. 

The crowd of Marians seemed to think his attempt was mediocre, but at least they weren't snickering at him like they had with the rest of the team. 

He got encouraging pats on the back from his fellow teammates. 

Allura offered for Keith to go next, but he brushed her off and decided to go last. 

"You scared, Keith?" Lance joked as Allura made her way across the platform. 

"You're not really one to talk, with a performance like that," Keith said. 

"Like you'll do better," Lance finished, turning to watch Allura have a go. 

Allura definitely looked the most determined out of all of them, and she definitely had done the best. She was leaning forward, holding on hard, but after about twenty seconds, the swoomish jerked her body to the side of the mud pit. 

The team cheered for her, but the Marians still had yet to be impressed. 

The King and Queen looked very nervous from the side, really wanting to align with Voltron, but realizing that their final hope was a petite looking Keith. 

The crowd had pretty much given up on the team at that point. 

Allura finally registered that Keith was their last shot to make the alliance happen. 

"Keith," she started. "You're the last one up-"

"I know, Allura. Don't worry," Keith said, turning toward the stairs and walking up to the swoomish, not even giving her a parting glance. 

Allura looked fearful, as did the King and Queen. 

Keith rolled up his flannel sleeves, which, okay, _why did Lance like that,_ hopped up on the swoomish in one go and straddled it with ease.

 _If only I were that swoomish,_ Lance thought. 

Keith smiled to himself and gave Lysia a thumbs up. 

Right as it started up, Keith made eye contact with Lance, put on his fucking cowboy hat, and smirked. 

And, goddammit, as much as Lance's ego hated himself for it, the confidence that Keith was radiating was completely, utterly, and undeniably hot. 

As the bull jerked around, Keith moved his body with it- no. He _rolled_ his body with it. 

Lance felt a high pitched whine escape his throat, and much to his chagrin, Pidge and Hunk both cackled at him. 

It was obvious that Keith knew what he was doing. He wasn't just winging it on the swoomish. He understood how to move his body, and man, Lance hated it, but it was it fucking attractive. 

"Thank the stars," Lance heard Allura murmur in relief to herself. 

Keith took his hands off the horns and stayed on, just using the strength of his thighs with ease. The crowd looked completely shocked, having previously doubted that Keith would last more than even five seconds. The King and Queen were the first to cheer, which set off the rest of the Marians. Lysia smiled to herself at the exciting challenge of trying to throw Keith off. 

After enough bodily rolls Keith did to have Lance and other Marians alike practically foaming at the mouth for Keith, the boy heaved himself up onto his feet in one swift motion. 

Yeah, that's right. He was fucking standing on the swoomish. And the whole damn time, he was smiling with his eyes directed at Lance. 

Keith tipped his hat at Lance, right before he kicked his heels and jumped, turning his body around to face the other side of the crowd. 

The Marians were losing their shit. Some were hardcore thirsting over Keith, (which Lance completely understood) and some were just whooping with encouragement, clearly impressed. 

While the rest of the team was screaming and cheering for their fellow red paladin, Lance had yet to make a sound (apart from his pathetic squeak, earlier). 

Keith then took his cowboy hat off, and threw it to a group of female Marians, who started clawing and tackling each other for it. 

Marians were almost as thirsty of a species as Lance was. 

"Did I forget to mention that Keith's from Texas?" Shiro yelled through the chorus of cheers. 

"I thought Keith was from Earth?" Allura yelled back, looking baffled. 

"Never mind, Princess," Shiro patted her shoulder. 

Keith dropped back down on the swoomish, except this time, he rode it backwards. 

With every roll of Keith's body, Lance was one step closer to death. He stood there, shell shocked. 

"I think Keith broke Lance," Pidge yelled to Hunk. 

"Me too," he snorted. 

"Shut up," Lance weakly shouted. 

Keith turned his gaze back to Lance. 

The thrust of Keith's hips was so euphoric. Just watching Keith was addicting. It was hellish and hot and stupid and amazing. 

Lance was a weak man. 

In a fraction of a second, Lance saw Keith's infuriating smirk twist and his eyebrows raise, as the swoomish jerked particularly hard to the left, and Keith was finally thrown into the mud. 

The crowd roared for Keith. Clearly, that wasn't something they saw every day.

Keith pushed himself up, jogging to the team. 

The Queen stepped up with a massive grin across her face. 

"I think we can all agree that the Red Paladin's shown us that Voltron's worthy of an alliance!" She shouted. 

The Marians cheered in agreement at that statement, along with team Voltron. Keith just stood there, looking like he was barely able to process the Marians' reaction to his performance. 

Shiro patted Keith on his back. "Good job, kiddo. We really needed one of us to pull through on that. Glad it was you," Shiro smiled. 

"Keith!" Pidge shouted. "Come help me pick Lance's jaw up off the floor!"

That was finally the thing to snap Lance out of his trance of staring at Keith, as he glared at Pidge. "I was not that bad!"

"Sure, buddy," Hunk chuckled at Lance's pathetic denial. 

Of course, Keith had no idea what they were insinuating, because he's _Keith,_ who is literally just as dense as Lance is when it comes to this shit. 

The King said something to Torsi, who came over to the team. "Howdy, y'all. The King said I can take y'all back to your rooms so you can shower and sleep."

"Thank god," Lance groaned, staring down at his nasty body. He'd probably find mud in some crevices of his body that he had no idea even existed years from then. 

"I'm gonna have horrible acne for months," he sighed. 

"You have horrible acne, anyway," Pidge quipped. 

Lance squawked at Pidge's _completely not true, unrealistic, stupid, very rude, and blatant lie,_ as Torsi dragged them to their rooms. 

***

Lance couldn't tell if this shower was better than the one he took when he first made it back to the castle after being stranded. Either way, if felt great, scrubbing off the nasty mud and changing to the soft pajamas that the Marians provided them. 

Lance scrubbed his hair with a towel to dry it before he stepped out of his room to say goodnight to his teammates. 

No one else was outside. They probably already went to bed. Lance was about to head back into his room, not wanting to wake anyone up, before Keith stepped out of his room right after. His pajamas clearly were way too big for his body. He had fucking sweater paws.

_Sweater paws._

"Comfy in all that fabric, Keith?" Lance snorted. 

"Shut up," Keith grumbled. "It's not my fault they got the wrong size."

"Right," Lance huffed a laugh. "Well, I just came out to say goodnight, since I'm going to bed. So, uh- night," Lance said, and after a little pause, he added, "And good job on the swoomish today. The team needed that."

"Ha, thanks, man…" Keith sheepishly rubbed his neck. "G'night, Lance."

Keith curtly waved and turned back into his room with a little smile on his face. 

Lance went back into his room, too, and shut his door quietly. 

Enveloped under the covers of his bed, he fell asleep faster than he usually did on the castle ship. 

It had been one of his better slumbers that he'd had during the midst of the war, thinking back to Keith's humble, quiet smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I hope you guys liked this, and can forgive me for spamming "y'all" as a means to prove that the Marians have southern accents. 
> 
> This also made me realize that I need to give you guys more pining Keith, because, as much as I adore pining Lance, I feel like I've come up short on Keith's end.
> 
> If you guys had trouble imagining Keith riding the swoomish, here are some videos that inspired me for writing that scene:
> 
> https://youtu.be/PaGM0PbEZnQ
> 
> https://youtu.be/sgYNUXb4IEo
> 
> So, I got a tumblr now. Which frightens me. But it's @speckkit if you want to follow. 
> 
> My instagram is @yasmin.g.art too :)


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